Selling a Car Privately?

you are in a pickle....since you don't hold a lien-free title to the car. As others have mentioned, buyers only have 30 days to license the car....& it'll take that long or longer to get the title back from the state.

Honestly, bluebook the van....be informed as to its value & then take it to a small-lot dealer & see if they're interested.

Hard to make a sale without that clear title!

EDIT: now that I think of it, we immediately skip over used cars without clear titles when we're buying. Sorry!

My mom sold hers on Craigslist in 15 minutes. I think it was a Subaru for $2500

She had to hurry and take the ad down because her phone was ringing off the hook.

Have you looked up the Blue Book or NADA value of the vehicle? How does that compare to what you owe? Unless you owe a lot less than the value, don't expect to make a good profit. Most people sell slightly below blue book prices. You won't find many, if any, buyers willing to pay over.

To find buyers, post on Facebook, Craigslist, ask people you know, etc. Don't sell unless you get a cashier's check or money transfer and be very careful letting someone test drive. Good luck.

We sold a car we stilled owed on a few years ago. I think I posted it on a list for my area that is similar to the "FreeCycle" groups, but this one is specifically for buy/sell/trade.

Since you do still owe on the vehicle, you need to find out how long it will take to receive the title after you pay it off. Ours took 30 days, and they weren't kidding! BUT, once you sell the car, take the person's payment, and hand over the car, they have 30 days to get a new license plate - which they need the title for! So definitely get the title ASAP when you sell it.

Good luck! And stay safe - never meet someone alone! I took my sister with me sometimes.

We sold our old SUV on craigslist in 8 hours. We made about $2500 on it and the person buying it still paid consderably less for it than they would have at a dealer. We had about 10 more inquiries about it within hours of posting it, but we sold it to the first person who called.

My concern is that since there is a lien on the car, and you have pay that off, that you will have no car & no profit. No one is going to pay enough for the car for you to make a profit off of it (unless you have very little left to pay off on the loan, of course) since you have to pay the loan off first.

That being said, I would try to network through people I knew. If you are savvy, there is nothing wrong with trying craigslist, or you could post an ad in Autotrader or something similar. I would never try to sell a car that had a loan to a dealer, that's asking to be screwed.

Good luck, I hope it sells quickly!!

Hi! I'm not a seller but as we went through my son buying a car last summer and we are beginning the process again (thanks to some drag racing teens that ran my son off the road). We spent hours and days sorting through cars on Craigslist and then hours comping them to KBB. I have to tell you that if the boy came to me and wanted to buy a car and not have the title turned over when he paid I would tell him absolutely not. There is just no way I would want him to get involved with the waiting game of getting a clear title. Can you pay off the van first? I'm not trying to be a pain but I'm probably not the only one that feels that way.
Good luck!

Word of mouth works pretty well, just let friends, family, coworkers, etc know it's for sale and for how much...

I would find out what the pay off is and sell it for that. You can place ads anywhere... the newspaper, craigslist, or even if you have a sight for your hometown on Facebooks that sells stuff. It really is hard to get the money you owe on the vehicle because once you buy the vehicle, the worth of the vehicle drastically reduces. Good Luck!

Dancer:

i would check out Kelly Blue Book.com or consumer reports.org to get a feeling for the value of your car.

I would then take it to Carmax and see what they are willing to give you for it. Since you owe on it - I believe they will pay the bank/lien holder directly. Don't quote me on that and if they give you more than you owe - you will receive a check from the lien holder.

If you still want to sell privately - make sure it's clean (take it in for detailing) and gather any and all paperwork you have on it for repairs and maintenance. I would get the oil changed and ensure there are no issues with the van and then list it on craigslist (no address) or in your local newspaper.

Let me know if I can help with pictures!!!

First thing I did was take my truck to carmax where they will give you an estimate on what they will pay for it and you have a few days (7?) before the offer expires. Then I checked Kelly Blue Book. I based my amount on between what carmax would give me and what KBB told me to ask. I listed it on craigslist and it was sold w/ in about 2 weeks.

We have always just put it in the yard with a sign on it. We live in Massachusetts which has a very strong "lemon law" for preventing people from selling you a bad car BUT it can go the other way. The lemon law allows the buyer to get their full payment back after xx days incase of remorse. What this can mean though is that the buyer takes the car, messes it up, and then comes to return it for full value claiming it was already messed up. For that reason we always create a bill of sales, write "sold as is" on it, and have the buyer sign and date it. That way, whatever condition it is in, that is how they have accepted it.
To find the value, google bluebook or edmunds:
http://www.edmunds.com/sell-car/

My friend is in the process of selling her truck. The first thing she did was put a sign in the window of the vehicle, which has gotten a few inquiries. She also has it llisted on Craig's List. I see ads in our local paper all the time.

Note: It's going to be very difficult for you to sell the car since you do not own it outright. You'll have to have a plan in place to immediately pay the lein holder and obtain the title. I would never buy a car privately unless I could receive the title on the spot.

Yes we have.
We've sold vehicles on craigslist. Easy peasy.
Look up the value (private party sale) on KBB.

The thing is, when you trade a vehicle, they give you wholesale value and apply it to another vehicle's retail value--not cool.
It's always smarter to do a sale to a private buyer. They pay you RETAIL value for the vehicle.